IAR-80:
The Plastic Version

Building 1/48th scale LTD kit

Much has been written in this magazine recently about the Romanian Air
Force and IAR 80/81 fighters. For a quarter-scale modeller wanting
to build a model of this elegant aircraft, the options are limited
to only one choice - a short-run kit produced in 1996 by LTD Models
from the United States.

In the box

The box contains a 1/48th scale Rumanian IAR 80 injection-moulded
limited production kit. It has 53 grey plastic parts and two vac
formed canopies. Both canopies have the same little dimple right on
top of it. Your really can not miss it. The kit has excellent
surface detail, crisply engraved panel lines, and nice markings.

IAR-80 flown by Locotenent aviator Ioan Micu of Grupul 9
vinatoare, during early Autumn of 1941

IAR-80A number 109 flown by adjutant aviator Pomut of Grupul
5 vinatoare, Escadrila 53 vinatoare during the Summer of 1943.

The
kit decals were produced by SuperScale.

The box art is interesting. It depicts the Romanian plane engaged
in a fight with a Russian counterpart. However, one should note that
this might just be the single type of World War II airplane that
actually “fought” against Russian, American and German fighters.
Quite a record …

The instruction sheets are very clear and concise. They start
with a brief history of the aircraft followed by assembly pictures.
Also a succinct description of the "scale color" (or atmospheric
perspective) concept is presented. The marking instructions are 1:1
which is helpful when painting.

Construction

As a general note, the
kit sprues are quite thick. Be careful when removing the parts such
that you do not clip into the actual part. You will have to do a lot
of heavy filing to remove the extra plastic from the parts.

I started with the wheel well piece. It leaves holes in the
fuselage, so I decided to fill them with thin styrene strips. I
recommend this step, as it provides a better look for the
undercarriage. After gluing the wheel well, I had to do some heavy
filling in order to fit nicely the wing parts.

I continued with the spinner, propeller blades and crank case
housing. After gluing them together, I painted the ensemble, busied
the blades with one decal each and applied a flat finish. I sat them
aside for final gluing on the engine.

The cockpit followed. It has levers, rudder pedals, longeron and
structural details, and an instrument panel, all on a floor board.
The interior got painted with Light Gray FS36622. I weathered it
with raw umber and then I applied a flat coat. All the little
details got glued, including the instrument panel. As the instrument
panel provided by the kit is quite basic, I decided to improve on it
by adapting one from the F2A Buffalo from Eduard. Yeah, I know they
are not identical, but they are close enough. The extra work with
the PE parts and the acetate foil pays off in my view. I also
decided to switch the kit seat with the True Details #48411 F6F
Hellcat seat. To make it look more like the Romanian seat I had to
clip the right and left extremities on the seat top. Trial fit the
floor board to make sure it is not too wide before fitting it into
the fuselage. I glued mine on one of the halves while having the
entire ensemble in place together. An additional note on the
instrument panel. It is positioned too much in the interior of the
body of the aircraft. Later on, this is revealed, when the exterior
antenna has nothing to sit on.

I moved on the body, gluing the two halves together. All the
gluing on plastic was done with Tenax. I filled the seams between
halves with Tamiya putty. I had to use the sanding sticks to make
the entire surface smooth. I masked the interior of the cockpit
having it ready for painting.

The wings followed. The three parts were glued together. Then the
aircraft body was attached to the wings. At this time I painted the
wheel wells with Dark Gray (FS35237) glossed and weathered them. The
wheel wells were masked to prepare them for the body painting job.
To complete the body, the horizontal stabilizers were attached as
well. Also I decided to add at this time the exhaust ring and the
two side exhausts. Having the side exhausts and ring in place, I put
together the cowling. Here one problem shows up: the cowling does
not slide long enough on the exhaust ring to barely touch the
fuselage. You need to file and dry fit until the model looks to your
satisfaction.

Next, I decided to paint the body. The "Colors and Marking"
paragraph details the painting and weathering of the entire model.

While waiting for the paint to dry, I put together the engine.
The engine cylinders are flat black, dry brushed gently with Testors
silver chrome.

Although the vacuform has a small but visible defect, do not
fear. A vacuform cockpit for IAR-80 is offered by Falcon, Set No.
37, part 2. It has no defect and also can be positioned open. I went
for the open position. I decided to add the little rear view mirror
on the edge of the moving part of the canopy.

Next, I put together the landing gear assembly: wheel well doors,
landing gear and tires. I used the painting indication from the kit.
As True Details provides a set of bulged tires specifically for
IAR-80, I could not help myself and use those instead of the kit
provided ones. Brake-lines are easy to add and provide a definite
plus to the model. I added them. Reference [7] shows an extra rod on
the landing gear assembly. I added this as well.

In the final assembly, I switched the kit provided machine-guns
with the Aries MG131 1/48th scale Machine guns.

Colours and Markings

I decided to go for the “lizard” scheme camouflage. It is made of
stripes Tan and Dark Green over Light Blue. The spinner, propeller
tips, cowl, lower wing tips and rear fuselage band are in chrome
yellow. The camouflage scheme is taken from reference [1], which
differs from what the kit suggests. The markings are for the
airplane flown by Locotenent aviator Ion Galea. The colors used are:

In an attempt to represent some wear and tear on the fuselage, I
decided to use the Gekko Metalized decals. The problem that I
encountered was that the individual decals are big enough to create
an unrealistic look to the model. The solution is to apply them, as
usual, on a glossy surface and then use the tip of an exacto knife
and easily scratch the decal until it resembles the desired texture
and form. The weathering was
done with raw umber dissolved in mineral spirits and applied after
the entire model was coated with Polyscale Acrylic gloss.

Conclusions

Being the single “game in town” the LTD kit is … wonderful. It
has no major flaws and it is easy to build and finish. It took me 40
hours to complete it, on a period of almost three months. The kit
was a pleasure to build, and I recommend it. Enjoy the pictures.

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